A group of armed men stoned a woman and her daughter to death in Afghanistan's Ghazni province. Officials blamed the Taliban and said they had accused the widow and her daughter of "moral deviation and adultery."
It happened on Thursday in the Khawaja Hakim area of Ghazni city, where the family resided. Police said two men had been arrested in connection with the killings.
Reportedly, armed men entered the house where the young widow lived with her daughter, took them out, and stoned them to death. An official said, "Neighbors did not help or inform the authorities on time."
Officials said religious leaders in the city had been issuing fatwas calling for people to report any one who was "involved in adultery."
#2
Mods, #1 barfed on the carpet. Glenmore, as the mother of a r*pe victim, I find your comment appalling. Can you look in the mirror without cracking it?
Posted by: Mike ||
11/11/2011 13:26 Comments ||
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#4
I tend to be more dismayed at what afghan tribals do to rape victims, and how Islamic law treats rape victims and rape in general, than at Glenmore's comment.
Which, in its rather badly-put way, says the same thing
#5
It was meant as a sarcastic critique on the way women are treated in that society rather than an actual suggestion; my apologies that it did not come out that way.
#6
I feel much better because you said that, Glenmore. You'd never been less than a perfect gentleman before, to my knowledge. Next time you'll be more clear.
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] South Sudan President Salva Kiir accused Sudan on Thursday of using accusations that his government is supporting border rebels to justify "pending action" to try and draw the newly-independent nation back into "meaningless wars".
Kiir said accusations that the South is funding or providing rear-bases for rebels in war-torn Blue Nile and South Kordofan states were "utterly baseless and they are just maliciously planned" by Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it. to deflect from internal problems and mask his wish to reclaim the South.
"We do not have anything to do with them militarily or politically. All these accusations are actually a prelude from Khartoum to justify their pending actions against South Sudan," Kiir told news hounds.
"Tomorrow, when Bashir invades South Sudan, then he will say yes, he took the action to Dire Revenge™ what was being done to him... They want to engage South Sudan in wars, meaningless wars."
Kiir dismissed Bashir's accusations that the South has been sending tanks and heavy artillery to South Kordofan, saying there were no roads and the route was impassable.
He said rebels of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement - North (SPLM-N) who fought alongside Kiir's former southern rebels during their 1983-2005 civil war with Khartoum were "the best equipped as they were the frontline to the north".
"When we voted for independence we did not withdraw these guns from South Kordofan and Blue Nile", but did withdraw all military commanders, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/11/2011 00:00 ||
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Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) closed the Great Pyramids on Friday after protesters said various groups, among them Jews, planned to attend a numerologist ceremony on the Giza Plateau.
Egyptian media reported that some Egyptians feared that the event would be used by Jewish Masons to reclaim the Pyramids as ancient Hebrew structures, denying Egyptians their claim to the pharaonic monuments.
One SCA employee claimed that a crew of 1,200 Jews were planning to attend the event, crowning the mightiest of the three structures with a Star of David in order to assert the claim that Jewish slaves built the pyramids, and not the ancient Egyptians, Egyptian daily Al Ahram reported.
Egyptologists have never proven whether or not Jewish slaves took part in the construction of the monuments, or even settled in Egypt in the time when Old Kingdom pharaohs commissioned their massive mausoleums.
Former SCA Secretary General Abdel Halim Noureddin told Al Ahram Jewish Masons have been trying to cap the Great Pyramid since 1931 with the Jewish emblem, so this instance should not be surprising.
According to a report from British daily the Telegraph, a Polish numerologist group had, in fact, received permission from the Egyptian government to hold a ceremony at the pyramids in order to protect the world from "cosmic forces" aimed at destroying Earth next year.
The resulting commotion surrounding the event, including the attendance of Jewish Masons, pushed the SCA to cancel the event, called the "Ceremony of Love."
Andrzej Wojcikiewicz, director of the Warsaw-based group Dar Swiatowida, described the ceremony, saying two pyramidal crystals would be placed inside the Great Pyramids at Giza in order to bolster their protective powers. The day chosen, 11-11-11, or November 11, 2011, was important because of its numerological significance.
It also happens that next year, on December 12, 2012 (12-12-12) some eschatologists believe the world will come to an epic end, citing a 5,125-year cycle in the ancient Mayan calendar (the Mayans also built pyramids).
Dar Swiatowida's events website, called Projekt [sic] Cheops, had this statement vis-a-vis the 11-11-11 event:
"The Ceremony planed for November 11, 2011 at Gizah [sic] Plateau is canceled due to security concerns. All three Pyramids will be closed during that day in spite of the fact that about 2000 tourists from all over the world wanted to participate at the evening event."
#1
Meh. The special function of the pyramids, like that of the whirling dervishes, expired centuries ago, they are only useful as a tourist attraction now.
#4
Personally, I cannot blame the Egyptians one bit for this. Such a collection of fruitcakes would probably cause more damage in a day than has happened in the last 500 years.
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Libya's former prime minister Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... i al-Mahmudi will get a "fair trial" when he is extradited from Tunisia to face Libyan justice, interim leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil told AFP on Thursday.
"First of all we will ensure a secure place for him, then we will guarantee a fair trial, despite the acts he has perpetrated against the Libyan people," said Abdel Jalil, chairman of Libya's National Transitional Council.
Similar assurances were offered in Tripoli by interim oil minister Ali Tarhuni, who told AFP that Mahmudi would be given a public trial.
"Everything will be done to guarantee a fair trial," Tarhuni said, adding that no date had yet been set for the former premier's extradition.
Human rights groups have expressed fears for Mahmudi's safety if he is sent back to Libya from Tunisian captivity after ousted Libyan tyrant Moamer Qadaffy ...Custodian of Wheelus AFB for 42 long years... was felled by a bullet to the head when captured by NTC fighters last month.
Mahmudi, 70, was prime minister until the final days of the Qadaffy regime. He was placed in long-term storage on September 21 on Tunisia's southwestern border with Algeria and set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock for illegal entry.
A Tunisian appeals court this week gave the nod for his extradition to Libya.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/11/2011 00:00 ||
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WASHINGTON--President Barack Obama will announce an accord for a new and permanent U.S. military presence in Australia when he visits next week, a step aimed at countering China's influence and reasserting U.S. interest in the region, said people familiar with his plans.
The agreement will lead to an increase in U.S. naval operations off the coast of Australia and give American troops and ships "permanent and constant" access to Australian facilities, the people said. While no new American bases will be built under the plan, the arrangement will allow U.S. forces to place equipment in Australia and set up more joint exercises, they said.
It's an overall smart move. When Obama gets one right we should note it. He gets one right here.
The move could help the U.S. military, now concentrated in Japan and South Korea in Northeast Asia, to spread its influence west and south across the region, including the strategically and economically important South China Sea, which China considers as its sovereign territory.
It might also make it easier for us to reduce our presence in Okinawa: relocate some of the forces to Guam and have an arrangement for some to visit Australia on a regular basis. We still need Okinawa, but not as much.
It was unclear how much the new presence would cost the Pentagon, which is facing years and hundreds of billion dollars in spending cuts.
But the expanded military presence is designed as a demonstration of U.S. commitment to the region, part of an effort to refocus on Asia as the U.S. withdraws from Iraq and draws its forces down in Afghanistan, officials in both countries said.
"It will demonstrate U.S. resolve, not just for Australia, but in the region," Maj. Gen. Tim McOwan, the Australian defense attaché in Washington, said in an interview this week.
It's not as if we need to demonstrate how closely we work with the Aussies: we've had each others' backs since before WWII. They stand by us and we stand by them.
At a daily press briefing on Thursday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Chinese officials "hope relevant countries' bilateral cooperation will be conducive to the Asia-Pacific region's security, peace and stability."
The strategy comes weeks after China sent its first its first aircraft carrier to sea, a defining moment in its effort to become a top-tier naval power that seeks to challenge U.S. military supremacy in Asia and protect Chinese economic interests that now span the globe.
As we've noted previously, it's one thing to have a carrier and another thing to have a carrier battle group.
Several Asian nations, fearful of the threat China poses, also are beefing up their arsenals, fearing that the U.S. security umbrella is being eroded by China's enhanced capabilities and possible U.S. defense cuts.
One base slated for the stepped-up American presence is in Darwin, on the country's north coast. Other locations are possible, including one near Perth, on the west coast, one person said.
It's unfortunate that we just can't buy an island in the region. One that has a decent harbor and is large enough for a honking big air base. Between the Phillipines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam you'd think there would be an island that they'd part with for the right price. We then would have 'Guam West': it's ours. Limit it to a military base with only military personnel and contractors.
"Strategically, we want to be able to reassure the rest of Asia that the American presence is still strong in the 21st century as China develops its force," said Ernie Bower, director of the Southeast Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.
Officials declined to detail how many new troops or sailors would be part of the U.S. effort, or how many ships would be stationed in the area, ahead of Mr. Obama's announcement next week. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, while traveling throughout the region last month, vowed an expansion in U.S. influence, but also declined to specify costs or force sizes.
Don't specify. Let the Chinese figure it out on their own.
An administration official said the stepped-up presence will be phased in over several years under the agreement. The deal isn't yet final and details could change.
It would be a great place for us to move some of the forces we currently have in Europe...
On his trip, Mr. Obama will mark the 60th anniversary of the U.S.-Australian alliance with a speech to Parliament and a visit to a military base in Darwin, where he and Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard will jointly address Australian troops.
Note that the center-left PM Gillard is doing a military deal with the decidedly left Pres. Obama and the left Def. Sec. Panetta.
Neither leader is expected to characterize the move as directly confronting the Chinese. But U.S. officials said one of the goals of Mr. Obama's Asia trip is to clarify free access to the South China Sea.
Mr. Panetta, after a meeting with the Australians in September, said that enhanced military cooperation would counter "threats and challenges" to come. "Security and prosperity of our two great nations depends on the security and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region," he said.
The full range of U.S. naval ships is expected to rotate through the joint facilities, stopping for exercises as well as repairs and other shore work. Naval aircraft also will have access to a base in Darwin.
Gen. McOwan, the defense attaché, said the increase in U.S. naval operations will send a message to the Chinese that the U.S. is committed to defending the security of regional sea and air trade routes. The stepped-up American presence will reassure Australia and well as other countries in the region that the U.S. is engaged at a time when Chinese intentions are uncertain, he said. Still, Gen. McOwan added that the American commitments Mr. Obama plans to announce are "not going to frighten the Chinese."
"It's more symbolic than real," he said.
That's the part that is for public consumption. It won't fool the Chinese and it won't fool anyone with any knowledge or expertise.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/11/2011 11:32 ||
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#1
Perhaps during a pause in their seething the Chinese could reflect on how their cybercriminality makes the world mistrust them.
US President Barack Obama will use a visit to Australia next week to announce that America will station Marines in Darwin, ministers indicated Friday, in a sign of heightened concern about China.
The Sydney Morning Herald said that the new permanent military presence had been under consideration for some years as Washington looks to boost its Pacific Command, and senior Australian politicians did not deny the plan.
The US currently has only a limited deployment in longstanding ally Australia, including the Pine Gap Joint Defence Facility spy station near Alice Springs, and the move represents a potentially significant geo-strategic shift.
"It is important to wait for the president to visit Australia and for him and the prime minister to confirm what further defence cooperation arrangements we may have planned," said Australia's Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd.
He added: "It has always made national security sense to have a strong security alliance with America."
Pentagon spokesman George Little declined comment, saying only: "Australia is an American friend and ally, and we will continue to work together to foster even stronger military ties with one another."
The US will not be building a new base in the city, but instead will reportedly use the existing Robertson Barracks nearby.
The facility is currently home to some 4,500 Australian soldiers and will need to be expanded to cater for the US Marines, the paper said, citing sources who declined to detail how many troops or sailors would be rotating through.
The plan would intensify the 60-year military alliance between the two countries, which has played a crucial part in anchoring the American influence in Asia.
In a speech to a national security workshop Friday, Defence Minister Stephen Smith said: "This would potentially see more ship visits, more visiting aircraft and more training and exercising through northern Australia."
It would also include "the pre-positioning of United States equipment in Australia", he added.
Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley said Thursday that Attorney General Eric Holder is continuing to stonewall congressional investigation into Operation Fast and Furious. This time, Holder is refusing to provide 11 of the 12 witnesses Grassley and House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa have requested be made available for interviews.
A Pub Senator should put a hold the next 11 presidential nominees...
"We have requested 12 Justice Department witnesses be made available for transcribed interviews," Grassley said in a Thursday Senate Judiciary Committee executive business meeting. "Despite the department's promises of good faith cooperation, only one witness has been provided so far -- former U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke. The department has refused to schedule interviews with any of the other 11 witnesses. That's not the good faith cooperation I was promised, and it is unacceptable."
Grassley and Issa are demanding to know who was involved in crafting a February 4 letter to the Department of Justice sent to Congress, which contained claims -- now understood to be false -- that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives did not allow guns to walk into Mexico.
Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, Holder's deputy and the head of the DOJ Criminal Division, admitted last week that the DOJ's claims that the ATF did not allow guns to walk were false.
"It also appears from those documents that Mr. Breuer's deputy, Jason Weinstein, knew about ATF walking guns in both operations," Grassley said on Thursday. "Anyone who knew about gunwalking in any case, also knew that the department's initial letter to me was false. The attorney general said the letter was based on the best information available at the time. But senior officials at headquarters, like Breuer and Weinstein, knew better."
Grassley also said that he's glad Holder "finally admitted that the whistleblowers were right all along about gunwalking in Fast and Furious." But, Grassley said that isn't enough -- Holder must take responsibility for the deadly program.
"While I am pleased that the attorney general is no longer trying to deny the obvious, he did not fully own up to his responsibility," Grassley said.
#2
Contempt of congress is pretty toothless against executive branch personnel. However, the committee can most definitely forward articles of impeachment for the Attorney General.
Though the Democrat senate would never convict Holder, he could then be seen as such a political liability that Obama would throw him under the bus.
#3
1. These clowns were so stupid they thought this would never get out.
2. These bastards figured it would probably get out but it wouldn't cause them any trouble they really minded. IOW, they have figured out that they have ways to avoid any actual difficulty coming at them.
I can't think of a 3.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
11/11/2011 10:44 Comments ||
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#4
...don't screw up the appeal for protection against double jeopardy. Need to leave the process clean to allow Mexico City to extradite.
[Dawn] Former US military chief Admiral Mike Mullen said on Wednesday that he did not know the man who claimed to have delivered him a message from President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... nor did he recall receiving any correspondence from him.
On Oct 10, Pak-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz claimed that President Zardari had sought Washington's help for
removing the army and ISI chiefs and assured the latter that he would cut all ties to beturbanned goon groups if it assisted him do so.
The president allegedly made this offer in a letter he gave Mr Ijaz for personally delivering it to American leaders.
"Admiral Mullen does not know Mr Ijaz and has no recollection of receiving any correspondence from him," said a message from the former US military chief. Capt John Kirby, a former front man for the admiral, said Mr Mullen had asked him to release this message on his behalf.
"I cannot say definitively that correspondence did not come from him -- the admiral received many missives as chairman from many people every day, some official, some not. But he does not recall one from this individual," Capt Kirby told The Cable, a publication associated with the prestigious Foreign Policy group.
"And in any case, he did not take any action with respect to our relationship with Pakistain based on any such correspondence ... preferring to work at the relationship directly through (Pak Army Chief of Staff) Gen (Ashfaq Parvez) Kayani ... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI... and inside the interagency process."
In an article he wrote for London's Financial Times newspaper, Mr Ijaz alleged that President Zardari communicated this offer by sending a top secret memo on May 10 through Mr Ijaz himself, to be hand-delivered to Admiral Mullen, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a key official managing the US-Pakistain relationship.
Mr Mullen's denial represents the first official US comment on Mr Ijaz's claimed memo. Several parts of Pakistain's government denied that Mr Ijaz's memorandum ever existed. On Oct 30, presidential front man Farhatullah Babar called Mr Ijaz's op-ed a 'fantasy article' and criticised the FT for running it in the first place.
On Oct 31, Mr Ijaz issued a long statement, threatening to reveal the "senior Pak official" that purportedly sent him on his mission.
Mr Ijaz, who runs the firm Crescent Investment Management LLC in New York, has been an interlocutor between US officials and foreign governments for years. He reportedly arranged meetings between US officials and Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... .
Susan Rice, now the US ambassador to the United Nations ...what started out as a a diplomatic initiative, now trying to edge its way into legislative, judicial, and executive areas... , has acknowledged that in the 1990s Mr Ijaz brought the then Clinton administration offers of counter-terrorism cooperation from Sudan but said that actual cooperation never materialised. She was assistant secretary of state for African affairs in the Clinton administration.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/11/2011 00:00 ||
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Herewith demonstrating that once bad habits are established, they are very hard to break.
(Ma'an) -- A released Paleostinian prisoner, Amal Jumaa, 41, announced Thursday she had started a hunger strike because Paleostinian Authority officials have failed to provide her medical treatment.
Jumaa told Ma'an that she has been in hospital for 13 days and wanted to "officially announce today an open hunger strike because they failed to provide necessary treatment for me."
Fitna Abu Eisha, another recently released female prisoner, threatened Thursday that all the female former prisoners would join Jumaa's hunger strike if she was not transferred abroad for treatment. "We want Jumaa alive; we don't want to watch her die in front of us."
President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... "issued a directive to transfer me abroad for treatment. I've been waiting for days."
Jumaa was transferred to hospital days after her release from Israeli prison, says her brother Jameel. She belonged to Fatah's armed wing, and was sentenced to 11 years in prison and served nine.
Amal was hospitalized in Nablus for complications due to bleeding in her stomach. She suffers cancer of the uterus and other serious health issues complicated by her time in jail. Jumaa's hysterectomy was performed in an Israeli hospital.
Jumaa's family has said that their daughter's case was taken on by the office of the president. Her family is also asking officials to intervene and if possible send her to a hospital abroad.
On Thursday, Jumaa wondered aloud if the Paleostinian Authority wanted her die, asking why they didn't leave her in jail to hasten the process.
Perhaps they do want her to die. In my ignorance it sounds to me like the uterine cancer has metastasized, which means chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy and/or additional surgery, none of which should be done until her pneumonia is cleared up. All in all, expensive, time consuming, and probably beyond the skills and equipment of the PA medical profession...at a time when the PA hasn't nearly enough for daily running expenses.
Boycott campaign takes to streets of Jenin
(Ma'an) -- Students and volunteers on Sunday campaigned on the streets of Jenin to encourage residents to boycott Israeli products.
Oooo, scary! That'll make Israel sit up and take notice.
Activists distributed flyers encouraging people not to buy Israeli produce as part of a nationwide campaign organized by the Paleostinian National Initiative.
Who?
Launched during the Moslem holiday Eid al-Adha, organizers say the campaign is in response to Israel's escalation in violence and the increase in settler attacks.
The Paleostinian Medical Relief Society is supporting the campaign,
"It will give the bored and unemployed something to do, which has a positive mental health impact. We approve."
The unemployed being everyone who isn't working for the UNRWA...
and volunteers from the organization handed out flyers in Jenin on Sunday.
PMRS representative Amra Amra told Ma'an the campaign was focusing on the boycott of Israeli juice Tapuzina, adding that concentrating efforts on one product would have the greatest impact on the Israeli economy.
Wow. That is a serious and wide-ranging boycott of the type that will really impact Israel's economy. Or not -- high finance is not one of my strengths.
She said the campaign was a call to all Paleostinians to join the boycott as an effective form of popular resistance, noting that there were international efforts to boycott Israeli products around the world.
(Ma'an) -- A nephew of the late Paleostinian leader Yasser Arafat says the family will soon release a French medical report revealing Arafat's cause of death.
What precipitated that, one wonders...
Naser al-Qudwa says the document is being translated from French before it is released.
Al-Qudwa says the report will answer "many questions," as it is the Paleostinian people's right to get a clear answer about how Arafat died. The document has not previously been seen in Arabic.
The report by French doctors describes a platelet disorder and speculates on its cause, al-Qudwa says. The doctors ruled out cancer and an acute infection, he told Ma'an.
A third possibility was poisoning, al-Qudwa says, but the records show that doctors were unable to conclusively determine what poison, if any, was in Arafat's system.
"We have said that it is poisoning," he hinted.
No, my dear Ma'an reporter, that is not a hint. That is a blunt statement of fact -- Mr. al-Qudwa did indeed say so. But that is the only fact; the doctors did not say it was a poisoning, as you wrote several sentences above. A subtle difference, but a difference nonetheless...How did you and he phrase it in Arabic, pray tell?
Al-Qudwa has long campaigned for a close examination of his uncle's death, which he has blamed on poisoning in the past. It was not clear when the new documents were to be released.
Arafat died on Nov. 11, 2004 in Gay Paree. Medical records have been closely guarded amid speculation on the cause of a sudden illness that struck the Paleostinian leader shortly before his death.
The betting at Rantburg at the time was heavily weighted toward AIDS, given Mr. Arafat's proclivities.
Al-Qudwa says the Yasser Arafat Institute will hold a festival in Leb for the first time to mark the anniversary of Arafat's death.
Utterly appropriate.
There will also be two festivals in the West Bank later in the month.
#1
AIDs enables a lot of uncommon secondary disorders/diseases. Platelet disorder? why not?
Posted by: Water Modem ||
11/11/2011 0:29 Comments ||
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#2
That's really classy, IftJ. You should be proud of yourself.
A simple web search shows that ITP and TTP are associated with HIV. This says nothing, of course. There are lots of platelet disorders. Let's be fair, although Arafat wasn't.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
11/11/2011 5:41 Comments ||
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[An Nahar] China's foreign ministry said Thursday that sanctions could not "fundamentally solve" the issue of Iran's nuclear program and urged further dialogue to resolve the ongoing impasse.
The ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency disclosed Tuesday it had found "credible" intelligence showing Iran's interest in nuclear weapons -- the first time the U.N. nuclear watchdog has so explicitly supported claims initially raised by Israel and the United States.
Hong Lei, a front man for the Chinese foreign ministry, said: "Sanctions cannot fundamentally solve the Iran issue. Dialogue and negotiation are the right way out for the Iranian nuclear issue."
The IAEA should clarify the report in a "just and objective" way through stronger cooperation with Iran, Hong added.
The United States said Wednesday it was looking at ways to put "additional pressure" on Tehran following the IAEA report, while Russia ruled out backing new sanctions.
Meanwhile, ...back at the hoedown, Bob finally got to dance with Sally... La Belle France and Britannia joined the U.S. call for stronger punishment.
"The pressing task now is that all parties concerned step up diplomatic efforts and push forward the P5+1 dialogue with Iran," Hong said, referring to talks between Tehran and the five permanent U.N. Security Council members plus Germany.
Iran has been subjected to four rounds of U.N. Security Council resolutions in retaliation for its nuclear program, the latest coming in June 2010 in a resolution expanding the arms embargo and barring the country from sensitive activities like uranium mining.
China and Russia have often sought to take a softer stance on Iran.
In recent years, China and Iran have become major economic partners, partly thanks to the withdrawal of Western companies in line with the sanctions against the Islamic republic.
In July, Iran and China, which now buys about 20 percent of Iranian crude, signed a series of agreements worth $4 billion for infrastructure projects in the water, mining, energy and industrial sectors.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/11/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Offer nukes to SKor and Japan but publicly tell China first that it's because of this, Pakiwakiland's nukes and kimmies nukes.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
11/11/2011 0:22 Comments ||
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#2
@ #1 comment -> EXCELLENT
I would say to China if sanctions don't work we will have to invade Iran. Which do they prefer? The remind them of the Wiggers they are having problems with as well. Sooner or later (even in China) the scourge of Islam will spread across all lands like locusts.
#3
We all know that sanctions can not solve the Iran issue. Sanctions have never solved any issue. 50 years of "sanctions" have done nothing to "solve" Cuba or North Korea.
Sanctions are simply a way a politician appears to be "doing something" without actually doing anything.
They want sarc, they come to the right place Line 'em up!
Economic/real estate bubble bursting, South China Sea coming to a slow boil... something's gonna give. Makes living on a Pacific island not so...well, pacific.
#7
Sanctions provide opportunities for graft along with the appearance of doing something. The oil for food gravy train was ended so they need a replacement.
#8
I think SKor could do much to solve this problem by having extensive and extended, one-on-one discussions with the Chinese, to convince them that they would profit enormously from, as a minimum, replacing the wacko NKor leadership with a Chinese friendly puppet regime, far less likely to be a regional pest.
#10
Iran is the size of Texas and as rugged as Wyoming. It would take an army larger then ours to subdue if we executed an operation the way we have done recently (kid gloves allowing enemies to blend with the civilian population).
We probably need a more subtle way of dealing with this regime in the strategic sense but we regardless, we need to get active in some fashion.
[An Nahar] Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Wally Jumblat ... Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling... on Thursday advised Hizbullah to allow Premier Najib Miqati's government to pay Leb's annual 49% share of funds to the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Leb.
"We've heard Hizbullah describing the suspects (in the 2005 liquidation of ex-PM Rafik Hariri) as 'sacred', but they must understand that those who were martyred, starting from Rafik Hariri all the way to (slain MP) Antoine Ghanem ... are also 'sacred'," Jumblat said in an interview on Al-Arabiya television.
"Why don't they go defend themselves in court?" Jumblat suggested, warning that "boycotting the tribunal would harm Leb."
Addressing the crisis in neighboring Syria, Jumblat said he was "against using Leb against Syria and vice versa."
"We respect the Syrian security forces, but they also have to respect the Lebanese security forces," Jumblat said when asked about recent controversy on the abduction of Syrian dissidents in Leb.
"I'm with security and military coordination between Leb and Syria, but it should have regulations," Jumblat stressed.
He called for a "settlement" between Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Despoiler of Deraa... 's regime and its opponents, but underlined "the need to prevent foreign intervention."
"The Syrian people is capable of reaching a new Syria. I'm with a political settlement in Syria and it should be implemented in an appropriate manner," the Druze leader added.
He also said he was not opposed to "the intervention of some influential powers such as Turkey and Iran in Syria should the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... deem that as necessary to stop the bloodshed."
On the other hand, he urged Assad to "accept the vaporous Arab League's initiative" to end the violence.
"We're not betting on the fall of the Syrian regime, but rather on reforms that would stop the bloodshed. I urge the Lebanese parties to sit together and engage in dialogue over how to protect Syria and I believe that Hizbullah will benefit the most in that case," Jumblat noted.
Asked about his relation with former premier Saad Hariri Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's liquidation. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too. , Jumblat said: "We exchange holiday greetings and we are former allies. We did not part because of a dispute over the principle of the tribunal, but rather over regional alliances and the fear of civil strife."
"Hariri and I should both help Syria exit its crisis by endorsing the Arab League's paper," he called on his former ally.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/11/2011 00:00 ||
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Link ||
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#1
Can anybody recommend a good, short book on Lebanese history/politics?
Posted by: American Delight ||
11/11/2011 9:50 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Beware of Small States
The Ghosts of Martyrs Square
Not exactly history books, but fairly decent reads.
There are a few good history books, but the prices are well north of a c-note.
[An Nahar] Lebanese Forces A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb... leader Samir Geagea ... Geagea was imprisoned by the Syrians and their puppets for 11 years in a dungeon in the third basement level of the Lebanese Ministry of Defense. He was released after the Cedar Revolution in 2005 ... accused Hizbullah of refusing to contact other Lebanese factions in the country, saying that it opposes holding talks with "imperialists" or whoever it cannot persuade to support its agenda.
He told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published on Thursday: "Hizbullah's security and military connections with regional powers will incur consequences on Leb if it launched a confrontation with the West and Arab world."
Asked of possible repercussions the developments in Syria may have on Leb, he replied: "Given the current government, anything is possible."
"I am a regular citizen and I do not feel as if I have a responsible state looking after my wellbeing because the country is completely exposed on the security and ethical levels," he remarked.
In addition, he noted that the dangerousness of the Syrian incursions into Lebanese territory does not lie in their extent, but in what they mean.
"This government does not even recognize itself because it does not exist," he stressed.
"The March 14 Those are the good guys, insofar as Leb has good guys... forces are revising the developments of the previous phase in order to avoid repeating the same mistakes when it returns to power, and we will return," the LF leader stated.
"The government is better off resigning because it will result in a catastrophe in Leb and it won't achieve anything for the country," Geagea said.
Addressing the developments in Syria, he stressed: ""Any initiative on Syria, whether it is Arab or foreign, will fail because if the Syrian regime will fall if it allows one percent of an initiative to be implemented."
"This reality will eventually lead to the involvement of foreign powers in Syria," he remarked.
He added however that the fall of the regime is inevitable.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/11/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
When the war with Iran/syria/Hizballa/Hamas starts ( and start it will... very soon- it is now unavoidable) I hope my government has enough sense to use tactical nuclear weapons on Hizballa and Syria in order to neutralize the little dogs so that we can deal with the big Dog (The Iranian Mullah's) - I also hope they have sufficient balls to use whatever weapon is necessary to eraze as much of Irans Nuke and conventional military capacity for at least 20 years.
This is now clearly a survival war for us and this will have to be an all out confrontation and a decisive war, the results of which will determine the fate of the middle east hegemony for the next 50 years.
Europe is already deeply poisoned by radical Islam and incapacitated by malignant socialism at the expense of the working class. Despite some heavy duty rhetoric, they cannot and will not do anything because they do not perceive3 Iran to be an immediate danger - they haver lost the will to live.
The US is another matter despite the financial dire straights I think most US citizens realize that if the US does not rise to the challenge the Iran/China/Russia coalition will gradually kick US influence out of the middle east and sooner or later will cut out all oil supplies to the US.
We (Israel) must now confront the prospects of staring anf following this war on our own because if we don't we will be anihilated mercilessly within 10 years.
If the US will help - so much the better. If not-the current POTUS risks being dragged into this forcefully ( when Israel Initiates the strike on Iran) and having to go down history as the US equivalent of the British Chamberlain kowtowing before the IslamoNazi's.
Moreover, since we will possibly be attacked simultaneously by at least Iran+Syria+Hamas+Hizballah+ maybe Egypt and Turkey as well, if we are ditched by our allies we will have to use strategic nuclear weapons to destroy arab and Iranian infrastructure because we cannot cope with all of them simultaneously.
I hope we will not have to do this but if we have our back to the wall we will !
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
11/11/2011 5:23 Comments ||
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[An Nahar] Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem slammed Thursday what he called "the statement of a U.S. State Department source that encourages the Arab countries to join the political and economic boycott against Syria," in a letter he sent to Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... chief Nabil al-Arabi.
The aforementioned statement "exceeds the limits of the AL Charter and the bases of the joint Arab action," Syria's official news agency SANA quoted Muallem as saying.
"The U.S. provocation constitutes a justification for a foreign interference and for economic and political sanctions against Syria with the agreement of some Arab countries," Muallem added, expressing hope that the U.S. call will not be heeded.
The top Syrian diplomat noted in the letter that "Syria, which has declared its commitment to the work plan agreed upon with the AL, underlines its fulfillment of most of the plan's items, contrary to what is being propagated by some misleading TV channels."
Syria's permanent envoy to the vaporous Arab League will brief the Arab ministerial council on the steps taken in this regard, Muallem said in the letter.
Muallem hoped Arabi "will respond to the U.S. statements in accordance with the AL Charter and the Arab agreements that maintain the illusory sovereignty as well as relations among Arab countries."
Muallem on Wednesday accused the United States of direct involvement in protests against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Supressor of the Damascenes... 's regime after Washington urged government opponents not to surrender.
He called on the U.N. Security Council to "condemn" U.S. action, according to a letter he sent to the U.N. council.
"This letter is just another attempt by the Syrian government to distract attention from its violent oppression of the Syria people," replied Payton Knopf, deputy front man at the U.S. mission to the U.N.
Last week, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland advised Syrians against surrendering in response to the Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... government's offer of an amnesty for those who give up their weapons.
Syria "considers that through the State Department's statement, the United States of America has directly involved itself in the violent unrest in Syria," said Muallem.
"The statement encourages gangs to continue their criminal activities against the people and State."
The State Department action "reflects an intention, indeed an active attempt, to thwart the League of Arab States in its endeavor to bring an end to the crisis in Syria and restore peace and stability to the population."
The Arab League has proposed a peace plan calling for an end to violence, the release of detainees and the withdrawal of Assad's forces from cities. Killings have continued in recent days however, following Syria's approval of the roadmap.
The U.N. says there have been at least 3,500 deaths in Syria and U.N. leader the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... has accused Assad of failing to keep promises to enact reforms.
The Syrian letter was released by the U.N. hours after U.S. ambassador Susan Rice called the Syrian crisis the most important civilian defense challenge facing the Security Council.
Russia and China vetoed a resolution, proposed by European nations last month, condemning the Syrian government violence.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/11/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
I remember a 1974 oil boycott pencil neck.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
11/11/2011 0:24 Comments ||
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[Dawn] UN Secretary-General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... called on Thursday for a diplomatic solution to the nuclear standoff with Tehran in an apparent reaction to media speculation that Israel might attack Iran's atomic facilities.
"He (Ban) reiterates his call for Iran's compliance with all relevant resolutions of the Security Council and the board of governors of the ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency," UN front man Martin Nesirky told news hounds.
"The secretary-general reiterates his belief that a negotiated rather than a military solution is the only way to resolve this issue," he said.
He added that Ban's position is that "the onus is on Iran to prove the peaceful nature of its nuclear program."
Tension over Iran's nuclear program has increased since earlier this week when the IAEA reported that Tehran appeared to have worked on designing a bomb and may still be conducting secret research to that end.
Media speculation about possible US or Israeli military action has also intensified in recent weeks, denounced by Iran as "unbalanced" and "politically motivated."
Since 2006, the UN Security Council has adopted six resolutions demanding that Iran halt its nuclear enrichment program, four of them imposing sanctions on the Islamic Theocratic Republic.
The United States, European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... and their allies suspect that Tehran's enrichment work is the core of a program to develop a nuclear arms capability. Iran, which refuses to halt its program, denies seeking weapons and says its nuclear ambitions are limited to peaceful electricity generation.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/11/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Lets see now..the "diplomatic solution" has been tried now for like 20 years.
I say call their bluff.
What is the UN going to do to the USA any way?
And China & Russia?
China wouldn't risk relations with it's largest trading partner and will do nothing.
Same with Russia.
Big on bluff ...small on action.
Time for the US to grow some balls.
Look for Iran to do all they can to produce nukes before 0Bambi is evicted from office next year.
[Telegraph UK] Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, has been urged to spare himself the grizzly [sic!] fate of Col Muammar Qadaffy ...who single-handedly turned a moderately prosperous kingdom into a dictator's fantasyland and was then murdered by his indignant subjects 42 years later... in Libya by taking up an offer of asylum elsewhere in the Arab world. Political leaders across the Middle East have concluded that the Syrian strongman is doomed after eight months of bloodshed since the uprising against his rule erupted in March, US officials have said.
Jeffrey Feltman, a US assistant secretary of state, told a Senate committee that a number of states had signalled their willingness to give Mr Assad refuge and immunity from prosecution in the hope of bringing a rapid resolution to the Syrian crisis.
"Almost all the Arab leaders and foreign ministers whom I talk to say the same thing: Assad's rule is coming to an end," he said. "It is inevitable. Some of these Arabs have even begun to offer Assad safe haven to encourage him to leave."
Mr Feltman did not identify which states were willing to take in the Syrian leader, but political figures in the region gave warning that time was running out for Mr Assad to make a decision.
"He basically has two options," a Jordanian official said. "He can either stay in Syria and die in ignominy with his body being dragged through the streets and his country facing bloody chaos. "Or he can choose salvation, both for himself and for Syria, and live a quiet life abroad."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/11/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
If I was a Syrian citizen, he would not have a chance of either a long or a quiet life abroad !
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
11/11/2011 5:36 Comments ||
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#2
The Arabs hate Assad because he is an alawite Shiite. The Christians love him because he protects them from moeslem domination
[VOA News] Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned the United States and Israel not to attack Iranian nuclear sites, saying his country will respond to such action with "strong slaps and iron fists."
In a nationally-televised speech to military cadets in Tehran Thursday, Ayatollah Khamenei said Iran does not intend to start a conflict. But he said Iran will strike back.
The comments were the strongest yet since Israeli officials began making references to potential military action against the Iranian nuclear program in recent days. Israel and the West suspect Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons under cover of a civilian nuclear program, a charge Iran denies.
The ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency released a report Tuesday saying it has "credible" evidence of Iranian efforts to design a nuclear weapon. Iran's diminutive PresidentMahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad rejected the accusation and vowed his country will not retreat "one iota" from its nuclear activities. Iran says those activities are aimed at the peaceful generation of energy.
Israel responded to the IAEA report by calling on the international community to stop Iran from gaining nuclear weapons and endangering world peace. Israel is widely believed to have the only nuclear arsenal in the Middle East. It sees a nuclear-armed Iran as a threat to its existence.
Britannia, La Belle France and Germany warned that Iran faces additional sanctions if it refuses to address international concerns about its nuclear work. But, China's foreign ministry said Thursday new sanctions will not "fundamentally" resolve the Iranian nuclear dispute. It called for more dialogue between the parties.
The U.N. Security Council has passed four sets of sanctions on Iran for refusing to stop nuclear activities that have both civilian and military uses. Permanent Council members China and Russia have shown little willingness to impose more.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/11/2011 00:00 ||
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[6 views]
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#1
Is Baghdad Bob writing the Iran script?
Posted by: jack salami ||
11/11/2011 16:54 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Asif Ali 
Nawaz Sharif
Boycott campaign takes to streets of Jenin
(Ma'an) -- A nephew of the late Paleostinian leader Yasser Arafat says the family will soon release a French medical report revealing Arafat's cause of death. 
China's foreign ministry said Thursday that sanctions could not "fundamentally solve" the issue of Iran's nuclear program and urged further dialogue to resolve the ongoing impasse.
Walid 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Samir Geagea
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
al-Assad, the Syrian president, has been urged to spare himself the grizzly [sic!] fate of Col Muammar 
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned the United States and Israel not to attack Iranian nuclear sites, saying his country will respond to such action with "strong slaps and iron fists."
